U.S.
House: Redistricting
reduced Iowa from five
to four CDs. In the new 3rd CD two incumbents faced off against
each
other; Rep. Tom Latham (R) defeated Rep. Leonard Boswell (D) by
202,000 votes (52.22%) to 168,632 (43.59%); two other candidates
also ran. The race in the 4th CD
attracted some attention; Rep. Steve
King (R) fended off a
challenge from former First Lady Christie
Vilsack
(D) by 200,063 votes (52.94%) to 169,470 (44.85%).State Legislature:All 100 House seats and 26 Senate
seats were up. Control of the legislature remained split. Republicans
maintained control
of the
House with a reduced majority (from 59R,
40D
and
1v
to 53R, 47D) while
Democrats kept narrow
control in the Senate (from 26D,
24R
to
26D, 23R and
1v).

Overview:
Iowa was one of the
battleground states.
In
the Nov. 2008 general
election,
Democrats had a
registration
edge of more than five percentage points; this time the margin was much
narrower.After healthy investments of resources by
both of the major campaigns, Obama won with a reduced plurality of
91,927 votes (5.81 percentage points), carrying 38 counties to 61 for
Romney. Iowa had the sixth
highest turnout as a percentage of voting eligilble population (after
MN, WI, NH, CO and ME). General Election DetailsObama
| RomneyBALLOT
[PDF]

2008
OverviewIn
contrast to the very close races in 2004 and 2008, Obama won Iowa
fairly
comfortably, gaining a plurality of 146,561 votes (9.54 percentage
points). Obama-Biden carried 53 counties to 46 for McCain-Palin.

2004
OverviewIowans saw much of
Sen.
Kerry during the caucuses campaign. Kerry later gave close
consideration
to Gov. Tom Vilsack as a potential running mate. In the closing
weeks
of the campaign the candidates and surrogates made frequent visits.
When
the
votes
were
counted,
Iowa
had
flipped
Republican;
Bush-Cheney
narrowly
won
with
a
plurality
of
10,059
votes
(0.67
percentage
points).
Bush
carried
67
counties
to
Kerry's
32.
191,345
more
votes
were
cast
in
the
presidential
race
than
in
2000.General
Election Details | PhotosKerry/Allies
|
Bush-Cheney
'04

2000
OverviewThe Gore-Lieberman
ticket
eked out a narrow win, finishing with a plurality of just 4,144 votes
(0.32
percentage points). Bush carried 68 counties to Gore's 31.
Typically in Iowa Democratic candidates do well East of I-35, the main
North-South highway, and Republicans do well in the West. This
held
true in 2000 as Bush swept all counties in the Western-most quarter of
the state, while Gore did well in counties along the Mississippi River
in the East, as well as in the Des Moines-Fort Dodge and Mason City
areas. General
Election Activity